The Nature and Biodiversity Committee have been continuing to review and plan for tree works on the Parish Council owned sites. Our starting point has been the latest tree survey undertaken in February 2023, with additional information provided by our Tree Officer, who took the survey results and worked through them to confirm what work needed doing as well as identifying any other trees that needed attention. This had led to a large plan of works, which has then been costed before work has been commissioned. For trees with Tree Protection Orders planning permission also needs to be sought from South Cambridgeshire District Council.
While it is always sad to lose an established tree, the Parish Council has a duty to ensure that trees within its public spaces are safe for residents and property nearby. Council members, our Tree Officer and tree work contractors have been working closely together to ensure these works are conducted with sensitivity to the Parish’s nature and biodiversity targets. For example, where a tree has been identified as a risk due to ill health caused by competition with other trees, the removal of its limbs only may be enough to make it safe, and this can then allow reinvigorated growth or possibly allow the trunk to decay naturally as a habitat for insects and fungi that live upon dead wood (known as a habitat monolith). However, where an identified disease such as such as brittle cinder fungus, honey fungus or sooty bark disease is the cause for decline, the whole tree, including arisings, will need to be removed to prevent further spread of the disease and protect nearby trees.
In some places we will leave some of the arisings, i.e. the branches or trunks removed, on location. Dead wood is great for wildlife, providing food and space for a range of fungi and invertebrates such as beetles. As the wood rots down, the nutrients in it will be released back into the soil and will become available to neighbouring trees and plants.
The list of works scheduled for the first six high priority areas can be found below. We will also put alerts on our website and social media a few days before work on each site starts. Work will happen over coming months, delaying it until after the end of the bird nesting season where at all possible. However, some works are now urgent for health and safety or to limit the spread of disease and unfortunately these will need to be done sooner. In these cases, we are working with contractors to ensure that all mitigation measures are taken, including monitoring of the site for nesting activity in advance. If any evidence of nesting activity is found, then the work will be postponed. We understand and share public concern about works being done this time of year but we have been particularly challenged with the volume of work needing to be done urgently at present which is unusually high. In future we should be able to schedule our tree surveys and any resulting works better, to make it less likely that we will need to undertake significant works at this time of year.
A concurrent plan is also being worked on to replant as many replacement trees as possible, although there will be some areas where the thinning out of trees will allow other saplings to take their place or older trees to become bigger and stronger, so trees may not necessarily be replanted in the same site or place as trees felled. If you would like any more information, please email helpdesk@hisimp-pc.gov.uk.
Tree Works at the Village Green